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Rating: 
Summary: An eye opener on noncompete agreements.
Review: Before reading this book, I did not know that noncompete agreements have limited enforceability in the state of Texas! This changed my whole perspective on what it means to sign a noncompete agreement whether you are an employer or an employee. When I was an employee for a Texas corporation, I passed up a couple of business opportunites (later as a small business owner) because I misunderstood the noncompete agreement I had signed and didn't realize that it was not enforceable! Now as a small business owner, I don't want to make the same mistake the other way and think I am protected from people stealing my ideas when I am not. So I started reading this book and understanding what you are trying to accomplish with such an agreement and the way to accomplish it through agreements that are enforceable. In cases where a noncompete agreement is not the right tool, there are nondisclosure and nonsolicitation agreements. The enforceability always seems to vary depending on whether an employee or an independent contractor signs it. The best part about the book is the CD-ROM that accompanies the book with a lot of forms that can be customized for your individual situation. There are forms that can be used with employees and forms that can be used with independent contractors. This is a short book with just 8 chapters. The first two are devoted to explaining what a noncompete agreement is and when to use one. The next four chapters address these contracts for employees and independent contractors along with how to create the necessary agreements. The last two chapters are devoted to revising your agreements when workers depart and how to obtain help beyond this book. All the sample forms are printed in the appendix so you don't have to use the CD-ROM to see if you can use any of them and if so, which one to use. I like this as I prefer reading on paper first and then just find the right electronic form later. My favorite chapter is Chapter 7 - When Workers Depart: Revisiting Your Agreement. There is valuable information on how to enforce your agreement when someone breaks it and how to prove that they broke the agreement. The law seems to be only as good as your ability to prove things. So I thoroughly enjoyed reading this chapter as it armed me with the right information to use before approaching my lawyer for help. Nolo books are aimed at providing legal information in plain English for the common person. I hope you are able to benefit from this book as much as I did. Good luck!
Rating: 
Summary: Does what it promises, nothing more
Review: If you're considering buying this book, then you probably already know what a noncompetition agreement is, what a nondisclosure is, and what a nonsolicitation agreement is. You're probably already seen a couple of boilerplate examples of them.
This book takes a pretty much boilerplate agreement and stretches it into 250 pages by repeating the same basic information OVER and OVER and OVER again. You can skim the book and pretty much get what you need out of it in an hour or so, and never look back.
That's not to say it's necessarily a BAD book, per se, it just doesn't really contain any earth-shattering information that makes you REALLY need this book. At $44.95 cover price, it is certainly cheaper than any attorney who knows his/her stuff, and in my opinion, it is worth the money. Just buy the book, rip out the CD ROM, load it in your computer, change the few basic fields in the form, and you're done.
As I say, it's probably worth the money, but there's no earth-shattering information in this book. It could easily have been combined with other employment books by this publisher.
Rating: 
Summary: Excelent
Review: Very good and easy to just fill in the blanks and delete the instruction parts. It is good enough IMO to help perform the function you want it to do. (Discouraging employees from using your business plan, structure or customer base to steal business away from you.) As with any legal document, it's first source of power is derived from your own willingness and ability to take people to court.
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